Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper ---- Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. Her career has spanned over 30 years. Her debut solo album She's So Unusual (1983) a song in which was a reference to the 1929 Helen Kane hit song "He's So Unusual" which was the first debut female album to chart four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night" and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors (1986). This album included the number one single "True Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number 3. Cyndi Lauper Inspiration In 1983, Cyndi Lauper reflected Kane’s style in her own cover of “He’s So Unusual” on her album She’s So Unsual. Kane’s hit "I Wanna Be Loved By You". During the 1980s Cyndi would appear on live TV shows and give interviews. In her interviews she would cite Helen Kane as her original inspiration including her recording of "He's So Unusual" which inspired her album "She's So Unusual", Lauper also stated she was inspired by several other performers. On one TV show Cyndi referenced Helen Kane and Mae Questel. Cyndi stated that Mae Questel had based her voice on Helen Kane. The interviewer tried to cut Cyndi off from finishing her sentence, but she quickly finished what she had to say. In 2014 when Cyndi went on tour she changed her story, instead she claimed her "He's So Unusual" solo was based on a friend called Rose who'd speak in a funny high-pitched Brooklyn accent and every time she would sing the song while out driving she would think of her friend. Betty Boop (1985) Cyndi Lauper is referenced in the 1980s comic strip Betty Boop and Felix as being "unusual", a reference to the song "He's So Unusual". While attending a party, Betty and her friend Libby come across Cyndi, but they have trouble identifying her. Cyndi Lauper (Betty Boop) According to a 1987 newspaper article Cyndi Lauper was first choice to voice Betty Boop, but was not committed to the role. The studios was expected to receive word on the final casting and stated the following: "We will be delivering a major star, there's been talk about several different people playing the part. At one point we were considering Bernadette Peters, but that was quite some time ago. Cyndi was our first choice." Neither Cyndi Lauper or Bernadette Peters provided the voice for Betty Boop in any animated feature. According to information it was to air on CBS and the only two Betty Boop animated features that aired on CBS was The Romance of Betty Boop in 1985 and Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery in 1989 which featured Melissa Fahn as Betty Boop. Indicating that the original choice for the role of Betty Boop in Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery was Cyndi Lauper and or Bernadette Peters, including Mae Questel who had reprised her role as Betty a year before and was apparently busy around that time filming Woody Allen's New York Stories. Disney Studios & Voice Work Cyndi later wanted to be the voice of a Disney character. When Cyndi went to one of the Disney Studios film openings or attended a Disneyland press event with her family, Lauper would badger company executives, repeatedly telling them "I want to do a cartoon with you guys." The executives all assured Cyndi that they knew about her interest. They promised Lauper that once the right project came along she would be the first person that they would call. Cyndi pestered Disney for years until in late 1993, that phone call she'd been waiting for finally came. Disney was just beginning development of a musical cartoon version of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The folks over at Feature Animation were wondering whether Lauper would be interesting in being a part of the project. Lauper flew over to Burbank, so eager was she to find out what Disney had in store for her. Disney wanted Lauper to audition to be the voice of one of Quasimodo's made-of-stone friends: Quinn, a gargoyle. She did a reading with Disney's casting department, then met with the film's directors, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. They liked the energy and humor Lauper brought to the part. A week later, Cyndi was hired.The character Quinn's name was later changed to Lavern. Cyndi was doing great in her recording sessions. Good, clear, sharp professional stuff. The problem was that the script as originally written wasn't working. The way Lauper was portraying the character of Laverne sounded like a contemporary of Quasimodo. Cyndi's youthful voice sounded too youthful for the role. The development team reworked the script, then called Lauper and McMurray back to do some additional recording sessions. When the tapes from these sessions didn't work out either, Kirk and Gary made another stab at fixing the script, then called Cyndi and Sam back in again to have another stab at the material.Gary and Kirk personally called Cyndi Lauper to fire her from the project. Lauper was heartbroken, she had pursued a part in a Disney animated film for nearly a decade. And Cyndi had been a part of the project since the project's inception, long before Hulce, Moore, or Kline had been hired.She took her dismissal very badly. Instead the role went to Mary Wickes who had played a supporting role as feisty old Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act. As soon as they heard Wickes audition tape, Gary and Kirk offered her the part. The Hunchback of Notre Dame would turn out to be the very last thing Mary Wickes worked on. In October 1995, just weeks after recording the song, Wickes passed away quietly in her sleep. Lauper later got to voice herself in a 1999 episode of The Simpsons. In 2014 Cindy voiced a nurse in the animated film Henry and Me. Trivia *"He's So Unusual" is featured in instrumental at the start of Cyndi's hit song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". *"She Bop" is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Betty Boop's "Bop!". *Cyndi Lauper's song "Yeah Yeah" samples, "He's So Unusual", "I Wanna Be Loved By You", along with a few other Boop-a-Doop quotes. Links *Official Website *Twitter *Instagram See Also *Producers Want Cyndi Lauper As Betty Boop (1987) ---- Category:People Category:Voices of Betty Boop